Finally we get some good news on Elena Myers’ search for funding for the 2011 season. The 17 y/o phenom spent the 2010 kicking the boys’ butts in AMA Supersport, even winning Race 1 at Infineon, and becoming the first woman to win a professional American motorcycle race (depending on how you look at it), only to be left searching high and low for racing support for the 2011 season.

She’s cute and she’s fast, and we were fairly dumb-founded to hear she was having trouble finding sponsors to go ride for this season, but luckily that all seems to be past the California native now. Announced this past weekend that she’d been signed to American Suzuki, Myers has also secured Dainese as an apparel sponsor for 2011. To go along with wearing the Devil on her back, Myers has a very interesting sponsorship deal that American Suzuki has put together, which sees the Californian using social media to engage fans with the Suzuki brand.

We were live at Dainese in Costa Mesa for the announcement that the Italian apparel company had singed Myers to its roster of supported riders, and when we got home from the event we found a press release from Suzuki waiting for us, confirming that Myers will ride a race-prepped Suzuki GSX-R600 from American Suzuki for the 2011 season.

Myers gave a shout out to Chris Ulrich for helping her secure the Dainese deal, and we imagine her contract to the folks at Team Hammer helped pave the way to what looks to be a very interesting contract with American Suzuki (one we imagine we’ll see other rides take in the future).

As a part of her deal with American Suzuki, Myers will interact with SuzukiScoopFans on Facebook and YouTube. On race weekends, the 17 y/o will select a fan comment (on Facebook) from each of her post race updates, and then display the comment on the tank of her GSX-R600 (for inspiration, naturally) during the following race weekend.“I’ve been on facebook for a couple years now, and let me say, I’m a really big fan of it,” said Myers. “It’s been a great way for me to communicate and connect with fans all over the world. That said, I’m extremely excited to be riding for SuzukiScoopFans for the 2011 season. For me, it’s an amazing opportunity because it’ll help get my name out more to fans other than those of road racing, and also give me an even better way to connect with fans.”

Myers will operate out of the Team Hammer truck, but will be sporting a SuzukiScoopFans racing livery (official artist render shown above) on her GSX-R600. Increasingly manufacturers are looking for ways to engage fans with their teams, and riders are slowly realizing the value of building their personal brand. As both these considerations grow, don’t be surprised to see social media becoming more in your face in motorcycle racing. For what it’s worth, we’re really big fans of Facebook too.

way to go Elena. Big fan happy to see her get her ride secured. Season not coming soon enough.Paint job is nice.

berzerker

let’s be real folks…..EM, aside from a fluke win at IR in a very shortened race is another Jessica Zaluski , who is currently riding the “im better looking then my results” band wagon…..sure the sponsors will temporarily jump all over the attractive female in a male dominated sports bandwagon…. but at the end of the day…. mid-pack results dont get/keep the sponsorship dollars….regardless if your hot or not…

Will

Ohhh!

Pretty sure Dianese’s logo isn’t the devil’s head, but a fox’s head.

Richard Mushet

The mock-up looks nice, but can’t wait to see the real thing!

RSVDan

Will: It is the Dainese Devil, not a fox head. The Devil head has been Dainese’s logo in various forms since 1972.

Damo

I semi-agree with the berzerker, but at the same time: she is only 17 and has alot of potential. If she can get sorted out, maybe she’ll do all right in the future.

Finishing even middle of the pack is pretty impressive for a girl still in high school :)

buellracerx

what ever happened to Elena testing w/ Rizla Suzuki?? Or maybe that was just a hype-generator…

way to go, Elena; not only for bagging a sponsorship deal but also for taking interest in building a personal brand. I agree, Jensen, more riders should be doing the same

I’m not sure I understand the question. What does her turning 18 have to do with anything?

elenafan

So Bezerker…Jessica Zulusky…really? If I recall, Jessica barely used to qualify for nationals, let alone win one. Finishing out of the top 10 only once in 2010 is mid-pack? Yeah, sure the class has changed but finishing 2nd in the West Coast championship in her first year at age 16 was not bad. But I’m sure you know, anyone could do that and racing at the AMA level is easy. Elena is just 17 years old and is only going to get better. I’m glad for Elena’s sake that there seems to be more positive comments than negative. So what are your credentials and what have you accomplished as a racer?

berzerker

Elanafan, I hope you are right and indeed i am wrong. Only time will tell if she is the “real deal” or end up like her team mate, giving 2-up rides to justify their worth to the team…

berzerker

.. better yet, EM should leave the age restricted Pee Wee AMA Super Sport class and move up to the AMA Sportbike Class and all things being equal at the recently completed Dunlop tire test at Daytona EM’s best lap time of 1.57.2 would place her 13th, just .7 second slower then 51 year old Pat Mooney on his Buell.

elenafan

Berzerk, You obviously know nothing about what goes on at the AMA level. If we use your logic concerning the Dunlop test than I guess Tommy Aquino should go back to the Super Sport class since he was clearly off the pace, about 4 seconds. So I’m sure everything went exactly to plan for Tommy just as I’m sure it did for Elena or anyone else that was not where they usually are. You seem to be a hater while including Chris Ulrich into your rant, I guess finishing within the top ten in superbike means nothing. Again I ask, what are your credentials as a racer or rider? You seem to be quite jealous of what Elena is getting for support. Is she the quickest rider in her class? No, but she has shown just as much potential as anyone else she raced against this year. And yes, being a girl does make her special. Special because no other girl has done what she has in this country at such a young age or any age for that matter. This sport needs her and as much as you think she is not worthy than you clearly do not see the whole picture. Rock on Elena!